Robert Barnes 1928-2007

Ex-county judge kept firm hand on the helm

Former Nueces County Judge Robert "Bob" Barnes used both to hone his
reputation as one of the best leaders ever to grace the Nueces County
Courthouse, colleagues and friends said.

For 36 years, beginning as a county commissioner, Barnes, who died
of natural causes Monday at age 78, wielded a sharp budget pen, working
to slice county spending in his zeal to save taxpayer money. Along the
way he made a host of admirers who remember him as the top county
leader the area has ever seen.

Funeral arrangements are pending with Seaside Funeral Home.

"Who doesn't remember Bob Barnes?" said former Corpus Christi Mayor
Betty Turner. "Bob was synonymous with the term county judge. I don't
think there will ever be a judge like Bob Barnes. He was a breed unto
himself. I did a lot of time with Bob. He was a storyteller, a doer, an
activist who could get things done. He was the best in my opinion."

The flags at county buildings were lowered to half-staff Monday
morning soon after County Judge Loyd Neal heard Barnes had passed. They
had worked with one another on projects over the years and had gone to
the same church. Barnes also was someone Neal admired.

"He did almost everything by himself," Neal said. "That was back in
the days when the county budget wasn't huge. He had the experience of
being a county commissioner and he did not require a lot of care and
feeding. He was very honest, very conservative in his approach to
government."

Barnes was first elected in 1958 at age 29, the youngest Nueces
County commissioner at that time. He was re-elected to the Precinct 4
position without opposition in 1962 and defeated one opponent for his
third term in 1966.

In 1970, he defeated Jason Luby in the Democratic primary to become
the county judge, a job where where he earned a reputation as a fiscal
conservative. He was largely unopposed from then until he resigned in
1994.

Barnes was a hands-on kind of county administrator, said former
Nueces County Sheriff J.P. Luby.

"He watched every penny and was very aware of what was going," Luby
recalled. "When I was sheriff, he visited the jail every day. We had a
jail meeting once a week. You did not put anything past him, I'll tell
you that, not that we tried very often. He ran the county with a strong
arm."

U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, who served with Barnes on
the Commissioners Court and as sheriff when Barnes was county judge,
remembered the funny side of Barnes.

"He was very reserved most of the time and even when he joked, they
were kind of dry," Ortiz said. "He was always joking, but in a
reserved, quiet manner. People had a lot of respect for him.

He cared for the county, he cared for the community and I extend my
deepest sympathy to his wife and family."

As county judge Barnes readily adapted to changing laws and policies
but steadfastly retained some trappings of the 1950s. He refused to
work on a computer; instead, he pounded out memos and notes on a manual
typewriter, hitting the slash-mark key through his mistakes and often
making handwritten notes in the margin. His 1994 resignation letter was
typed on the old machine, which often dropped or raised a letter.

In recent days, Barnes had become increasingly concerned with county
finances, Neal said.

"As late as two weeks ago, he came by to see me," Neal said. "He was
worrying about the certificates of obligation (funding for county
projects including the new fairgrounds), how much debt the county had
and how it was being handled."

In recent conversations with the Caller-Times, Barnes said that when
he left office in 1994, the county's general long-term debt was $6.5
million and he worried about the more than $138 million the county now
has. He has said most debt incurred during his 36 years as commissioner
and judge was voter-approved, except for one certificate of obligation
issue for the McKinzie Jail Annex to relieve crowding issues, which
Barnes described as an emergency situation.

Though Barnes was best known for keeping an eagle eye on the
county's pocketbook, he also was an astute observer of people, friends
and colleagues said.

Barnes was the swing vote on the Commissioners Court that gave U.S.
District Judge Hilda Tagle her start as a judge in County Court at Law
No. 3.

Monday, Tagle recalled that another commissioner told her at the
time that she should forget about being a judge because the job was too
stressful for a woman.

At the time, County Commissioner Richard Borchard made the motion to
name Tagle and Commissioner Carl Bluntzer seconded the motion. The
third vote came from Barnes, sealing a successful appointment for Tagle
to replace Joaquin Villarreal, , who had been appointed district judge
by the governor.

"He could see outside the box when it came to women and what they
were capable of," Tagle said. "I was indebted to him for seeing my
potential. He was a good leader. Even though he was a fiscal
conservative, he was somebody whose leadership I really trusted."

He was always willing to share advice or lend a hand to the
surrounding counties, said former San Patricio County Judge Josephine
Miller who was elected when Barnes was in his last term in Nueces
County.

"How to deal with other elected officials, how to maintain the
civility of intergovernmental relationships, well he just had good
advice," Miller said. "During the era of Bob Barnes people mostly got
along because he just was good at that. He was good at negotiating
those minefields. He also gave me a lot of good advice on how to
negotiate those minefields and how to avoid the pitfalls."

Among survivors are his wife Mary, sons John and Robert and daughter
Martha Barnes Nelson and two grandchildren.